15 Minute Ficlet! {{ Original; PG }
For: 15_minute_fic
Title: Discomfort
Genre: General
Rating: PG
Word Count: 662
Fandom: Original
Characters: Kassidy, Zariah
Summary: Takes place after "Seeing Red". It didn't matter that Kassidy was staring right at her. She still flinched when Zariah slammed the shirt down into the dresser and twisted her body halfway to peer back at her.
Author's Note: Just a really short oneshot I did of them for 15_minute_fic. I went just a little bit over the time limit. Oops. Oh well. I didn't go over by much. :P
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The bed creaked underneath Kassidy's weight when she shifted slightly. The apartment bedroom was so quiet that even the slight squeaks of the bed's interior could be heard. The woman's silvery-gray eyes were glued to the Zariah's back as the other placed clean clothes into the dresser drawers. Kassidy could feel her heart beating in her throat as she sat so stiffly it was hard to tell if she was even breathing. Zariah didn't appear to like being in the room any more than Kassidy did. She could tell by the way Zariah was fidgeting with the clothing. She had folded, unfolded, and refolded that same shirt twice now.
It didn't matter that Kassidy was staring right at her. She still flinched when Zariah slammed the shirt down into the dresser and twisted her body halfway to peer back at her. Those bright, blue eyes flashed in the lighting when Zariah snapped, "Why are you even here, Kassidy?"
Kassidy ducked her head down. Curly, blond strands fell into her face as her eyes scanned the floor, searching for some kind of relief from all the tension. Of course, she found nothing of the sort. She cleared her throat before explaining, "The infection....It's hurting again."
Oh. The curse. Zariah should have guessed that was the reason Kassidy randomly showed up at her apartment after nearly a week of no contact with each other, nearly a week after--. Zariah shook her head. "What about Quota?" She didn't mean to sound as bitter as she did, but she wasn't about to apologize for her strictness either. Kassidy shouldn't be here for clear reasons.
"I haven't been able to get a hold of him," Kassidy mumbled quietly. "I don't know where he's at."
Zariah said nothing after that. Her blue eyes stared long and hard at the young adult's face as the other avoided eye contact. Whether Kassidy knew it or not, it was clear to her how nervous she was. Zariah could hear Kassidy’s heartbeat all the way over here. It was beating quicker than normal, despite how reserved Kassidy was trying to seem. In the back of her mind, Zariah wondered if Kassidy knew this, if she was thinking how alert Zariah truly was due to her inhuman senses. Flashbacks of last week flooded unwanted to the front of Zariah's mind. The image of a slayer's bloodied, torn corpse danced in front of her mind before Zariah had the chance to stop it. A shudder passed over her, traveling up her spine before she closed her eyes and shook the image away.
Kassidy was right though. The woman's heartbeat wasn't the only thing Zariah was alerted to. Although it was faint, the smell of sickness passed through her nose. When she stared more closely at Kassidy, she could see blue veins visible on her light-colored skin where they weren't supposed to be. Zariah sighed. Kassidy was here because she had to be. It was either seek Zariah out or let the sickness consume her and kill her nice and slow.
When Zariah began forward, she watched as Kassidy's head snapped up in surprise. The sudden movement had caught her off guard. Zariah wasn't going to lie to herself. To watch the woman recoil away from her--even if only for a second--made her heart sink in her chest. The raw violence of last week was bound to happen sooner or later. It was only a matter of time before Kassidy was going to see it, but that didn't mean Zariah wasn't upset that it had anyway. Zariah could have very easily killed her that night. That was the bitter truth of their situation. The most likely possibilities of what was to come boiled down to one of two events. Either this rare infection was going to kill Kassidy or Zariah would.